SCIENCE FILE | Science in Brief

Japan to launch probe to moon

Japan's space agency announced Thursday that it plans to send its first probe around the moon in August.

The $269-million Selene, or Selenological and Engineering Explorer, will be carried into space by a Japanese-built H-2A rocket, the agency said. During its one-year mission, the probe is to release two small satellites to measure the moon's magnetic and gravitational fields. Selene will be launched from the remote southern island of Tanegashima.